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Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768)

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Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768) HAKUIN EKAKU (1685-1768) Subject: Tosô Tenjin Sealed: Hakuin; Ekaku no in (right); Rinzai shôshû (left) Date: Late 1750s Dimensions: 47 x 11 in. (exclusive of mount) Format: Hanging scroll Media: Ink on paper Price: POR Inv# 7848 Hakuin has created the figure of Tenjin, the deified poet Sugawara Michizane, and the Shinto god of scholarship, calligraphy and poetry, dressed in a Taoist robe, scholar’s hat and carrying a branch of plum when visiting China. The figure is actually composed of Chinese characters (moji-e) creating the following statement: “Praise to Tenjin of Tenman Shrine; Deity of Great Freedom” Na Mu Ten Dai Ji Zai Ten Jin This is prefaced by a poem written above the figure: “The deity of the Kitano Shrine wears an unwoven Chinese robe. But you will know him by the plum blossoms held in his sleeves.” —translation by Stephen Addiss in The Sound of One Hand p. 193. Born in Suruga, Hakuin entered the Shôin-ji temple in Hara (present-day Shizuoka) at the age of fifteen and studied Tanrei Buddhism, under the name of Ekaku. He subsequently lived and studied at various temples until 1717, when he became abbot of the famed Myôshin-ji temple in Kyoto. Later still, he moved about the provinces; finally in 1758, he founded his own temple, the Ryûtaku-ji, in Izu. He was a gifted and voluminous writer, penning numerous books, often written in simple easily readable syllabic script (kana). Humor and parody were often the inner focus of his compositions. He devoted much of his life to spreading the knowledge of Zen among ordinary people through both his writing, Zen paintings by Hakuin Ekaku are among the most respected and sought-after by both Japanese and western cognoscenti. His work was the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at Japan Society, New York, in 2010-11. The thin, gracefully curved linear brushstrokes are characteristic of his middle years of painting career. A very similar painting with the identical inscription but perhaps a bit earlier is reproduced in Zenga: The Return from America Zenga from the Gitter-Yelen Collection (pl. 13, p. 75), and A. Seo and S. Addiss, The Sound of One Hand: Paintings and Calligraphy by Zen Master Hakuin, Shambala, 2010, (plate no. 5.15). According to S. Addiss there nine other known versions by Hakuin of this subject and it was one that he wished to “reach out to the public with this image.” In addition to an extensive roster of temple and museum collections in Japan, works by Hakuin are in collections throughout the United States including Brooklyn Museum; Gitter- Yellen Collection, New Orleans; Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art, Cambridge; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Berkeley Museum of Art; and, Seattle Art Museum. Bibliography: Stephen Addiss, The Art of Zen (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1989) pp. 102-29 (for an excellent biography of the artist and his work). Stephen Addiss, A Myriad of Autumn Leaves (New Orleans: New Orleans Museum of Art, 1983) pls. 20-24, pp. 82-91. Stephen Addiss, Zenga and Nanga: Paintings by Japanese Monks and Scholars (New Orleans: New Orleans Museum of Art, 1976) pls. 11-15, pp. 52-61. Yasuichi Awakawa, Zen Painting (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1977). Audrey Seo and Stephen Addiss, The Sound of One Hand, Paintings and Calligraphy by Zen Master Hakuin. Shambhala Publications, 2010. Hakuin (Special Issue), Bokubi, no. 257, January 1976 (Kyoto). Hakuin bokuseki (Kyoto: Bokubi, 1980). Hakuin Zen to shoga; Haukin Zenshi seitan 320-nen (Tokyo: Asatsû Dî Kei, 2004). John Stevens, Zenga: Brushstrokes of Enlightenment (New Orleans: New Orleans Museum of Art, 1990). Zenga: The Return from America Zenga from the Gitter-Yelen Collection (Tokyo: Asano Kenkyûjo, 2000) pls. 1-27, J1-J25, pp. 62-91, 184-210. .
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